Using Points to get to Maldives on Air France

Saver award space on Flying Blue, Air France’s own loyalty program, will run you 40-45K one-way in economy, 80K in Premium Economy or 100K in business. Currently, I see no saver business class space.

Delta will run you 97.5K miles in business class or 40K miles in economy class. Delta does not publish award charts, but does allow routing to the Maldives via Europe and charges a fixed rate (currently) for partner awards.

Aeroflot, another SkyTeam partner that serves the Maldives from Moscow Sheremetyevo has much better award space, particularly in business class.

Delta no longer permits complimentary stopovers on round-trip awards so if you stopped in Paris on the way or way back from the Maldives your cost would increase further (65K business from Maldives to Paris, 70K business from Paris to LA). Flying Blue would allow a stopover in Paris on a round-trip award.

CONCLUSION

Another option to reach the Maldives is good news. While redemption rates are not great, another option is now available to get to Male on miles and points.

About Author

Matthew

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he
travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 120
countries over the last decade. Working both in the aviation industry
and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in the New York
Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, BBC, Fox News,
CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, Al Jazeera, Toronto Star, and on NPR. Studying
international relations, American government, and later obtaining a
law degree, Matthew has a plethora of knowledge outside the travel
industry that leads to a unique writing perspective. He has served in
the United States Air Force, on Capitol Hill, and in the White House.
His Live and Let's Fly blog shares the latest news in the airline
industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs and promotions, and
detailed reports of his worldwide travel. His writings on
penandpassport.com offer more general musings on life from the eyes of a frequent traveler. He also founded awardexpert.com, a
highly-personalized consulting service that aids clients in the
effective use of their credit card points and frequent flyer miles.
Clients range from retirees seeking to carefully use their nest egg of
points to multinational corporations entrusting Matthew with the
direction and coordination of company travel.